Justification:Zebrasoma gemmatum is rare and inhabits deeper waters. It is harvested for the aquarium trade and due to its rarity fetches a very high price online. There is very little information available on its biology or the rates of harvest. It is therefore listed as Data Deficient.

This is a rare species, usually encountered below 25 m and reported to 60 m. Juveniles have been reported to occur in shallower parts of its depth range and adults usually below 20 m (Lieske and Myers 1994). Jewelled Tang is seen on open reefs or over mixed sand and rubble adjacent to reefs. Territorial and nearly always solitary (Kuiter and Debelius 2001).

The sexes are separate among the acanthurids (Reeson 1983). There is a possibility of sexual dimorphism in Zebrasomas with cloacas bigger in females (Bushnell et al. 2010). This dimorphic character most probably applies to all Zebrasomas (J.H. Choat pers comm. 2010).

Surgeonfishes show varying degrees of habitat preference and utilization of coral reef habitats, with some species spending the majority of their life stages on coral reef while others primarily utilize seagrass beds, mangroves, algal beds, and /or rocky reefs. The majority of surgeonfishes are exclusively found on coral reef habitat, and of these, approximately 80% are experiencing a greater than 30% loss of coral reef area and degradation of coral reef habitat quality across their distributions. However, more research is needed to understand the long-term effects of coral reef habitat loss and degradation on these species' populations. Widespread coral reef loss and declining habitat conditions are particularly worrying for species that recruit into areas with live coral cover, especially as studies have shown that protection of pristine habitats facilitate the persistence of adult populations in species that have spatially separated adult and juvenile habitats (Comeros-Raynal et al. 2012).